Job Discussion Forums

[japan_01]

A very close friend of mine is in a little trouble at the moment. He is an 18 year old who decided to come to Japan on a working holiday visa and landed quite a good job. His contract is due for renewal on Jul 31 but he doesn't want to renew. He can't stand his boss and is thinking of relocating. The HUGE problem that he faces is that he has no kind of degree and no TESOL qualifications what so ever. I suggested he got a part time job at a family restaurant which would do him over perfectly. Does anyone have any ideas? Are there any english speaking jobs that require NO qualifications?

[PAULH]

[canuck]

He just renews the working holiday visa if he can and he moves on. Otherwise he flies home.

[japan_01]

I passed on the info, thanks PAULH.

He is aware that he doesn't need to be sponsored he just wants to stay in the country. To do that, he needs some sort of part time job.

[JimDunlop2]

[XMizer]

I am on a WHV and I didn't see anything about working in the service industry being illegal.

But I found this on the Japanese embassy in Canada website:

Since the Working Holiday Visa is a youth program, the holiday maker is not recommended to engage in inappropriate employment activities, for example, in night clubs, bars, pachinko parlours, mah jong clubs, etc.

[JimDunlop2]

Perhaps the rules have changed in the last four years but when my wife and I came, (on a Canadian WHV) we were required to sign a paper saying that we understood the prohibition against it, and agreed not to do it.

[whatthefunk]

this isnt that big of a deal. he tries to find another job, any job and if he cant then he leaves when he runs out of money. is there a place, like an international center, where he lives that he can find part time work? tell him to go there. ask around at the foreign bars. does he speak japanese? if not, working at a family restaurant is probably not going to work... he could always move to another city where theres more work.

[kdynamic]

I don't see what is so urgent about this situation. Either he finds a job, or he goes home, just like every other person. He has a visa. He can work teaching English. If having a job secured is sooooo urgent, he should just stay with the employer he's with now.

[Apsara]

It's news to me that working in the service industry is illegal on a WHV. I spent 3 months working on a ski resort on my WHV stint, serving in a restaurant, and I put that on my application. Others who came over with me worked on the ski-lifts and at the hotels- all service industry jobs.

What was prohibited at the time was bar-work- a limited part of the service industry, and I've always assumed that that requirement is to deter people from becoming hostesses.

[Apsara]

Just had a look at the MOFA site- places which might be deemed unacceptable for people on a WHV to work are "night clubs and dance halls", leaving the rest of the service industry legal for those on a WHV. Unless your friend's Japanese is native speaker level I can't imagine a normal family restaurant hiring him though- I was able to work at the ski resort as part of a kind of international exchange.

After I finished my job at the ski resort I had various private students and basic eikaiwa job, mostly teaching kids- someone will hire him to teach English if he tries hard enough and presents himself well. His age would be an obstacle to teaching adults, since he isn't considered one himself in Japan!

Failing that, as others have said he will have to pack up and head home if he can't see himself staying on at his present job- he's young, he has lots of opportunites to do other interesting things.

[PAULH]

[Apsara]

PaulH, I was thinking the same thing about my time at Nova etc- I didn't consider myself to be working in the education field- most basic eikaiwa teaching in Japan looks more like a service industry job. We always used to say that there wasn't a huge difference between a Nova instructor and a hostess!

[PAULH]

[womblingfree]

What I find interesting is what is it that enables the Japanese language sector to run so absolutely unregulated? How can it be so overwhelmingly commercial whilst being so non-educational?

In many countries British Council accreditation is used as a way of showing some kind of standard. These schools still have their problems but at least they meet some basic criteria. These schools come in for criticism and debate at many levels, but in comparison to eikaiwa's they're Harvard.

In Japan there are British Council school(s?) also but extremely few, in fact I only ever heard of one.

So then my question is why does the minimum standard not apply in Japan? Answer, because eikaiwa's dominate and there's no need for anything else. Also the idea that just 'speaking English' is what foreigners are there to facilitate trickles up to even universities as Paul said. Foreigners are just there to serve as idealised models of pronunciation.

The idea that a native speaker is the best teacher of English disregarding all other concerns isn't unique to Japan of course, and is pushed by those self-appointed organisations that oversee the global ELT industry. One way to look at it is that, in fact, Japan's language education is very effective & progressive for the needs of the population. Why?

i) Serious English teachers are almost always Japanese which goes against the 'native speaker fallacy'. Even at eikaiwas the Japanese teachers are usually given the jobs that require actual educational skills.

ii) Japanese students need to learn grammar to progress in education so this is what is deemed important at school. They don't have to be able to speak effectively to get ahead so lessons cater for their local needs.

iii) Native speaker schools with unqualified teachers are viewed for what they are, places to practice speaking English free from the constraints of academia, not serious places of study. (Although many students do view them as such and waste millions of yen).

If it's the case that the British Council cannot get a foothold on the eikaiwa industry then is this all bad? Doesn't it mean that language teaching as a business in Japan is purely Japanese? Many teachers hate it but don't eikaiwa's largely perform the function that the students want, meeting and talking with foreigners?

The British Council and it's franchises are also a business and their lessons and infrastructure are problematic for different reasons. Although when I tell teachers about working practices in Japan their jaws drop to the floor.

Managers/staff pretending to be new students to spy on rival schools.

Giving credit services to students to fund lenthy contracts.

Lessons in sales tactics.

Mind bending students affections for renewal purposes.

Health insurance fiascos.

Trainers as cult leaders.

Aaaah, the good old days.